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Many people felt that the girls who worked twelve to fourteen hour days in the textile mills of Massachusetts had lives little better than those of the Southern slaves. However, like many of her counterparts, the "Northern slave" referenced in this article worked in the mill several years and then went on to a better life by becoming a school teacher and moving west to Michigan. She was most likely Catherine Amelia Shaw who married Jacob M. Howard. Howard was the United States Representative from Michigan from 1841 to 1843, and United States Senator from 1862 to 1871.